. >>> and just five days until the fiscal cliff. president obama catching a flight back to washington where there's doubt that a deal can get done in time. good morning, everybody, for a thursday morning. very early, 5:00 a.m. on the east coast. welcome to "early start." i'm alina cho. >> i'm drew griffin. john and zoraida are off today. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. a deadly winter storm system slamming the northeast after hammering the nation's heartland. look at this radar, system serious snowmaker. it's packing destructive winds, six states under winter storm warnings right now. pennsylvania, new york, massachusetts, new hampshire, vermont and maine. all could see a foot of snow or more. more than 200,000 customers spanning several states already without power. 1,700 plus flights canceled yesterday. imagine that. hundreds more already taken off the board this morning. there are six deaths being blamed on the weather since tuesday and the threat hasn't passed yesterday. bonnie schneider, meteorologist checking the system from the c